Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 17:54:54 GMT
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<title>The Images of Belfast</title>
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<h1>The Images of Belfast</h1>

<!WA0><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/cityhall.gif">
<!WA1><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/cityhall_s.gif"></a>
This is Belfast City Hall, the pride of the downtown, seen from the
north on Donegall Place.  A Sunday, the streets of the normally
bustling shopping district are bare.  The red, white, and blue banners
along the road celebrate "French Fortnight," a part of the Belfast
Civic Festival.

<p>

<!WA2><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/peace2.gif">
<!WA3><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/peace2_s.gif"></a>
This is a fragment of the first and largest "peace line" in Belfast.
This 20-foot-tall corrugated metal wall (complete with Army
observation towers) divides the Protestant neighborhood of the
Shankill Road from the Catholic neighborhood of the Falls Road.  The
photo was taken from the Protestant side of the line.  The spires in
the distance belong to St. Peter's Cathedral in the Catholic Falls
Road area.

<p>

Apparently, the people feel safer with these walls separating one
group from another.  This wall is the most conspicuous in Belfast;
there are many smaller peace lines separating smaller Protestant and
Catholic enclaves.

<p>

<h2>Political Art</h2>

It's hard to walk fifty feet in a working-class neighborhood in
Belfast and <i>not</i> see a politically-themed mural on the side of a
building.  This is a miniscule sample of what a short walking tour
will reveal.

<h3>Catholic Murals</h3>

<!WA4><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/falls.gif">
<!WA5><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/falls_s.gif"></a>
This mural, along the Falls Road, expresses two common themes in
Catholic areas:  resistance to oppression and "time to go."

<p>

<!WA6><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/fenian.gif">
<!WA7><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/fenian_s.gif"></a>
One of the most pointed murals in the area.  It speaks for itself.

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<!WA8><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/peace.gif">
<!WA9><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/peace_s.gif"></a>
This mural was painted the day of the IRA ceasefire.  It's not clear
in this image, but the top brick says, "Peace."

<p>

<h3>Protestant murals</h3>
<!WA10><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/1690.gif">
<!WA11><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/1690_s.gif"></a>
"No surrender" is the motto of one of the protestant paramilitary
organizations.  In the background of this photo, you can see Divis
flats in the Falls road area.  It's the highrise with the Irish
Tricolour hanging on it.  The top of the high-rise is a British Army
base.

<p>

<!WA12><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/william.gif"> <!WA13><img
src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/william_s.gif"></a> And
here he is, Ulster Protestantism's major historical icon and my
undergraduate college namesake, King William III.  His defeat of
Catholic King James II over three centuries ago still carries enormous
symbolic weight in the North.  You can find his picture all over
buildings in Protestant neighborhoods.


<hr>
<address><!WA14><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dewey/">Brian K. Dewey &lt;dewey@cs.washington.edu&gt;</a></address>
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Last modified: Wednesday, October 2, 1996
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